Summary
Elizabeth Florescu is Director of Research of The Millennium Project. She has been with the Project since 1997.
Elizabeth is an economist and analyst-programmer with over 20 years of experience in futures research. She was also policy analyst at the European Commission (2016-2019) and has done extensive work in operational research (using fuzzy logic), foreign trade, diplomacy, and security-related domains.
Source: Millennium Project page
OnAir Post: Elizabeth Florescu
About
Biography
Elizabeth Florescu is a contributor and the production manager of the annual State of the Future reports, is co-author of Environmental Crimes, Military Actions, and the International Criminal Court, Lone Wolf Terrorism Prospects and Potential Strategies to Address the Threat, Identification of Potential Terrorists and Adversary Planning (co-editor), and Analysis of the UN Millennium Summit Speeches, several articles, and invited reviewer by specialized magazines.
Her expertise is primarily in research concerning democracy, economics, security, international affairs and regulations, ethics, and gender issues. She has been one of the principal investigators working on the environmental security monthly scanning reports, for the US Army Environmental Policy Institute. The purpose of that effort has been to assess worldwide environment-related issues in order to identify and analyze events that might trigger future changes in international regulations or environmental technology with potential implications for the military. It has been producing monthly summarizing reports and an annual synopsis, since 2002.
Elizabeth is also involved in the development of the Global Futures Intelligence System (GFIS), updating the 15 Global Challenges facing humanity, and design and implementation of early warning systems for policymakers. She also cooperates with Ted Gordon on Real-Time Delphi applications, and computing the annual State of the Future Index.
Elizabeth has been a speaker at several conferences in North America, Europe, and Africa, and is involved in committees and forums addressing issues related to S&T, environment, security, international regulations, ontology, and knowledge management.
She has a vast international experience, having lived and worked in several countries, including the USA, Canada, Romania, and Hungary. Previous experience and positions include: analyst-programmer (implementing the use of fuzzy logic in computer-assisted modeling; development of analytic packages for use in statistics and planning; operational research; and system architecture development and programming); and foreign trade and international relations.
Elizabeth is a member of several professional associations, including: World Futures Studies Federation, Global Futures Forum, World Future Society, Foresight Europe Network, Millennia 2015, and Foresight Canada. She is a graduate of the Romanian Academy of Economic Studies (Bucharest), Faculty of Economic Planning and Cybernetics (1982).
Source: Millennium Project page
Contact
Email: Millennium Project
Web Links
Presentations
Future of Democracy
Source: Millennium Project
Elizabeth Florescu, Director of Research at The Millennium Project, participated as a featured speaker at the Frontiers of Politics: Transforming Democracies in the Digital Communication Age conference, held online on June 19–20, 2025.
Hosted by Italian Institute for the Future, partner of Italy Node of The Millennium Project, in collaboration with other academic bodies, the conference explored the deep transformations reshaping liberal democracies in the age of digital communication.
Elizabeth Florescu contributed to the session Foresighting Democratic Challenges, chaired by Adriano Cozzolino (University of Campania), with a talk titled “The State of the Future and Democracy as a Global Challenge” (download presentation in .pdf). Drawing from The Millennium Project’s extensive foresight research and global perspectives, her presentation emphasized democracy as a complex and evolving system facing pressures from disinformation, technological disruption, and rising authoritarian tendencies, and outlined possible futures and strategic foresight approaches to strengthen democratic resilience in a rapidly changing world.
The session also featured contributions from Holger Kiik (University of Tallinn), Roland Benedikter (Eurac Research), and Ivana Milojević (Metafuture & University of Edinburgh), creating a rich dialogue on the epistemic, institutional, and ethical dimensions of democracy in transition.
For more information about the conference, visit https://www.instituteforthefuture.it/frontiers-of-politics-2025/?lang=en
